Gay Man Reportedly Detained in Chechnya Speaks Out

"Every day they assured me they would kill me."

The stories from LGBTQ people who experienced gruesome torture in Chechnya have been circling the web for months. In April, Human Rights First released a video of gay Russian men who have sought asylum in the U.S. reading testimonials from those reportedly tortured and detained in Chechnya. "They stripped me naked," one man read in the video. "One filmed me on his cell phone. Three of them beat me up. They kicked me, broke my jaw." Now, months later, the first survivor to attach his name and face to his experience is giving his firsthand account of the torture he endured in a "secret prison" in Grozny.

The independent local newspaper that first reported the Chechnya arrests, Novaya Gazeta, published an account from Maxim Lapunov, who says he was detained for 12 days in March. According to a translation from the BBC, Lapunov said that every "10 or 15 minutes" his torturers would "burst in...shouting that I was gay and they would kill me." He said the cell where he was held was already "blood-soaked."

BBC reports that Lapunov spoke at a "small gathering" in Moscow that was "convened by human rights activists." He had been working in Chechnya for two years before being grabbed by two men and interrogated. Lapunov, a 30-year-old from Siberia, suffered intense physical torture, including being beaten with sticks until he fell.

"[T]hey beat me with a stick for a long time: in the legs, ribs, buttocks, and back," he said, adding that he could "barely crawl" when he left the prison. "When I started to fall, they pulled me up and carried on. Every day they assured me they would kill me, and told me how."

As the BBC reports, 27 other men have fled the area since the spring reports; LGBT Network, an association of nonprofit organizations, helped the men and 52 of their relatives to safety. Previously, survivors hadn't come forward with a non-anonymous testimonial due to fear of putting relatives still in the area in danger. Testimonies like Lapunov's are essential because they heavily contribute to the investigation. "The authorities' excuse was that no victims had made statements," Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch told the BBC. "Now they have one, but there's no investigation. There is a lack of political will."

Chechen leaders denied any wrongdoing, saying that gay people don't even exist in the area.

Although he said he's since received threats following his statement, Lapunov says he's sticking with his story.

"[The] only thing that I would like at this moment is justice, which should happen," he said, according to a translation from The New Civil Rights Movement.